Wild Mother Dancing: Maternal Narrative in Canadian Literature PDF
Preview Wild Mother Dancing: Maternal Narrative in Canadian Literature
Wild Mother Dancing This page intentionally left blank Wild Mother Dancing Maternal Narrative in Canadian Literature Di Brandt University of Manitoba Press © Copyright Di Brandt 1993 Printed in Canada Printed on recycled, acid-free paper The title, Wild Mother Dancing, is an extract from Daphne Marlatt, How Hug a Stone (Winnipeg: Turnstone Press, 1983), 79. Designed by Norman Schmidt Cover illustration: Dancing Alone reproduced with the kind permis- sion of the artist, Leona Brown, M.S.A. (watercolour, 22 x 30 in.) Photograph of the author on outside back cover by Irene Peters. Cataloguing in Publication Data Brandt, Diana Wild mother dancing Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 0-88755-632-9 1. Mothers in literature. 2. First person narrative. 3. Canadian fiction - Women authors - History and criticism. 4. Canadian fiction - 20th century - History and criticism. I. Title. PS8191.M6B72 1993 C813'.5409'3520431 C93-098197-9 PR9192.6.M6B72 1993 The publication of this book has been assisted by a grant from the Canada Council. for my mother, Mary, and her mother, Aganetho This page intentionally left blank Contents Acknowledgements ix Prologue in the First Person 3 The Absent Mother, An Introduction 1 1 The Absent Mother's (Amazing) Comeback: Margaret Laurence's The Stone Angel and The Diviners 19 Re-membering with Mothertongue: Daphne Marlatt's Search for the Absent Mother in Language 45 These Our Grand-mothers: Jovette Marchessault's Like a Child of the Earth, Mother of the Grass and White Pebbles in the Dark Forests 75 Silent Mothers / Noisy Daughters: Joy Kogawa's Obasan and Sky Lee's Disappearing Moon Cafee 109 "Everyone has their own story to tell": Katherine Martens in Conversation with Seven Women 735 Coda 757 Notes 765 References 773 This page intentionally left blank Acknowledgements This book is a revised version of my Ph.D. dissertation, '"Wild Mother Dancing': Maternal Narrative in Contemporary Writing by Women in Canada and Quebec," University of Manitoba, 1992.1 thank the members of the English Department for giving me the opportunity to explore this topic. Thank you, more specifically, to David Arnason, Heidi Harms and Joan Turner for invaluable editorial advice and encouragement. Thank you to Daphne Marlatt, Katherine Martens, Janice Williamson and Marianne Hirsch, whose interest and support helped keep me going. Magdalene Redekop, Nina Colwill and Judith Flynn gave useful criticism. Carol Dahlstrom and Allison Campbell expertly guided the manuscript into print. Muchemi Wambugu gave computer assistance. Thanks also to my colleagues at the Univer- sity of Winnipeg, who believed in me and listened, and to my students, who helped me clarify many ideas. And most of all, thanks to my mother, Mary Janzen, who showed me how to live, imaginatively, and to my daughters, Lisa and Ali, who taught me how to be a mother, wild, and (sometimes) dancing. ix
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